Tag Archives: volunteering

This year I managed to make the trip of a lifetime to Accra, Ghana with 3 friends of mine. What an experience it was, I stayed in a volunteer house for 3 weeks in a small town in East Ghana called Frankadua. We taught in a local school that was started up by a priest for children who cannot afford to attend the government schools. The teachers at the school were paid very little and volunteered their time to ensure that the children received the same opportunities as those attending the other schools. The school was called Freedom International School in a small town called Osia Bura, East Ghana. The priest would also pick the children up every morning in a ‘Tro Tro’ (Ghanaian main mode of transport – alternative to a mini van in England) to make sure they got to school safely.
Within my time at the school, I worked in Kindergarten 2 (equal to reception class in English schools) where children were at the ages of 4,5 and 6 years old. In this class I taught maths and English mostly and occasionally taught science. Everyday without fail, the children would brighten up my day with their beautiful smiles on their faces and their vibrant personalities individual to each one.
In this part of Ghana they speak a dialect known as Ewe, where constantly they would shout “oovoo” from across the street meaning white person. They seemed genuinely fascinated by my skin tone, something which is just the norm here back in England. The children would always wave and giggle and were genuinely excited to meet people from other countries, this was quite refreshing. In the evenings occasionally we would attend the training sessions for the local team and help out with drills or games. However my football knowledge in terms of coaching is quite limited therefore this wasn’t my area of expertise and I took the overseer role as opposed to coach.
We travelled to many small towns in East Ghana and also stayed in Accra on weekends with a friends family who were very welcoming. It was a blessing to be able to see the different lifestyles of people in Ghana, you could call it the rich and the poor to be blunt. Often on television Africa isn’t displayed in the best light and it was nice to see a different side of Africa that we don’t normally see.
Overall my trip to Ghana was amazing and I most definitely would love to return there very soon!